Arsenal vs. Middlesbrough

Arsenal V Boro Preview

Arsenal will be under immense pressure to get a result this evening with United and Chelsea Derby and Sunderland respectively. Both teams are breathing downs Arsenal's neck at the top of the table, and both teams have a game in hand over The Gunners.

Arsene Wenger will be boosted by the return of Robin Van Persie and Kolo Toure to the starting line up after both completed a week of training with the first team. Wenger described the return of Van Persie as being as good as anew signing, something I'm sure you'll agree is true.

Rihchard Clarke picked some interesting words on Arsenal.com. He wrote: 'Arsenal's month of destiny starts on Saturday.' 'Destiny' sounds so strong. But he may just be right. Arsenal face United in the league at Old Trafford, Chelsea in the league at Stamford Bridge and Liverpool in the league at The Emirates, as well as twice in the Champions League. Stick a trip to The Reebok Stadium in amongst them fixtures and you've got a very tricky four weeks. If Arsenal get all the right results in that time, then this team is well on it's way to success and gaining the recognition it deserves. Come away with the wrong results, and the media will once again be dismissing Arsene Wenger's men.

Three consecutive draws in the Premiership has given United the chance to close the gap to just two points. And they still have a game in hand.

Middlesbrough look like they're in danger of getting sucked into the relegation battle. They currently sit just five points outside the bottom three. They'll be on a low after exiting the FA Cup at home to Cardiff, but a 1-1 draw away to Villa on Tuesday was a good result for the Teeside outfit.

Boro have won once in their last six outings. That came in the form of a 1-0 win over Sheffield United in the FA Cup, a game they won thanks to a Paddy Kenny own goal. Last Six: P6 W1 D2 L3.

Arsenal have lost only one game in the last six, but they've also won just one in the last six. A 4-0 demolition at old trafford represents Arsenal's only defeat, while a magnificent 2-0 win over AC Milan at The San Siro is Arsenal's only win since they beat Blackburn on the 11th February. Last six: P6 W1 D4 L1.

Vital Quotes:

Arsene Wenger still has complete faith in his team and believes they can still do what they have to this season: 'We know it is down to us and our performances but I am very relaxed and very confident.

'This team has fantastic mental strength. We were under big pressure when we went to Milan, and you did not see that pressure in our game.'

Wenger also pointed to the fact that his team have lost just once in both the Champions League and Premiership this season: 'Don't forget we have lost just one game since the beginning of the season in the Premier League and in the Champions League we have lost one as well and that was when we had already qualified.'

'Genuinely, I believe the players want to do well in both competitions.'

Gareth Southgate was just talking out his arse: 'We are 12th in the league and we want to finish 12th at least. 'It is difficult to say what is a tough run-in and what isn't. Lots of people would have put us down to beat Reading at home and we lost that.

'Sunderland play Chelsea this week, Bolton go to Manchester United next week, Reading are at Liverpool, so everybody has hard games.'

Arsenal Team News:

Arsenal welcome back three important players for the visit of Middlesbrough. Kolo Toure is fit to start, while Wenger said that he could give Van Persie his first league start for five months.

Theo Walcott is also fit after recovering from a thigh problem picked up in a friendly.

However, Wenger refused to give a time-scale for Rosicky's return from injury. Diaby is also still missing while Eduardo will miss the rest of the season.

Player to watch: Van Persie

Van Persie couldn't have picked a better time to come back from injury. Eduardo out for nine months, Adebayor looking like he needs a rest, and Bendtner still not looking ready to play week-in, week-out.

As Wenger pointed out in his press confrence, he offers a threat from free-kicks, corners and of course, he's got a lethal left peg!

Middlesbrough Team News:

Player to watch: Alves

There's no doubting this lads ability. He scored goals for fun in Holland, and grabbed SEVEN in one game. He's yet to make a massive impact, but this is the sort of game players like him often blossom.

Match Prediction:

There should be no suprises when I say I think it'll be a draw. They're all the rage with Arsenal at the moment.
1-1 Van Persie and Alves.

Next Fixtures:

Your Comments (oldest first)

Nice to see Theo and Eboue back so the Fab-Flam pairing isn't disrupted again. Good to see Kolo back as well but after Senderos' recent performances we shouldn't be so quick as to put him back on the bench.
Guessing a draw as well, with RVP equalising in the last 15 minutes.

United & Chelsea win their games; pressure is really on you boys. I think you'll relish it and grab the points, unfortunately. Anyone not at the game is more than welcome to pop over to the vital boro forum for a chat as the game is played. http://www.middlesbrough.vitalfootball.co.uk/forum/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=711&posts=2#M2396

Tuncay was definitely onside - Ali was not - the play went to Tuncay and Gallas ran around waving his arm like a dummy while he left Ali all alone to score. The ref has indeed lost control of this game though.....Boro is timewasting like crazy! How many fouls on Van Persie are they going to be allowed to commit? And as I type, Boro gets away with a hand ball in their box.....this is disgusting!

really frustrating. the ade goal at the beginning would have changed everything. now we need spurs, bolton and pool to do us some favours before we take on the chavs. what im really worried about is that united can open up a six point gap by the time we play chelsea..

We've lost the plot.. I dont think we've played nearly as well as we can since that Birmingham game in the EPL.. Today.. yes, Boro got the goal on the counter - but we were pretty much reverting to the way we played beginning of last season.. and yeah.. the ref was appalling.. he made horrendous decisions all through the match.. hope Clichy is ok!

Gutted, absolutely gutted. To say it was frustrating doesn't even do it justice. Adebayor should had that goal. But other than that, I don't believe we pocessed that killer pass. The whole team tried and gave it their all. What was disappointing was that 'Borough didn't even deserve it. Horrible refeering in the end. Never counted the time for pushin and shoving and hence we missed out on a corner.

well, i guess our ride comes to an end in terms of the prem league today.. we hv let slip 8 points in the last 4 games.. these were games u couldnt afford to slip yet this is where we are.. and we hv allowed chelsea to come within striking distance.. i cant see us winning all the remaining matches in the league.. champions league now seems to be a more realistic target

What makes me even more gutted is that our run has encouraged ManU and Chelsea tremendously. They AREN't that invincible - look at how they only beat Derby and Sunderland by one goal. They can grind it out, we with such a thin squad and tired players are finding it very hard to do so.

come on guys, it's not that we can't grind out results. United were lucky with the offside decision today and we weren't. had we won today, all of you would be saying great result the lads fought well and got the result. Fabregas really needs to work on his finishing when he gets into such positions in the box when the keeper makes himself big..

but all these results set us up perfectly to take on Chelsea. i remember we had a similar blip earlier in December before we took on Chelsea and then went on a great run, and i'm sure they will do it again because they want this title more badly than all of us..

WYBI, I don't know what it is with Ade and Hleb - they've played every game when fit and I'd give them that if they say they're tired. But they looked like they lacked the sharpness. Well it was a mini-miracle that Ade kept that consistency in the first few months of the season in the first place. And we can still take some positives out of this: Kolo, RvP and Theo looked good post-injuries. Cesc and Flam were great as usual (bar that miss, but Schwarser was great blocking Cesc). Eboue was good in more patches than before.

Luckys, I know! I'm not saying ManU or Chelsea were invincible. All I'm saying is that, while our luck has been terrible since the Eduardo injury, we should also have put some chances away so we didn't have to rely on ref decisions - even though of course they should be doing their eff-ing jobs! I keep reminding myself that I'm so absolutely gutted because we've come so far and that in itself is a good thing for this season already. (Don't know for how long I can stay calm like that.)

Yeah Luckys, stage all set, backs all to the wall. We always perform best when are pushed to the limit - Milan. I won't be surprised at all if we can end Chelsea's home unbeaten record. In Keegan's words, I'd luv it, absolutely luv it! Did anyone watch their game vs Sunderland? Doesn't sound very convincing in the reports, and Sunderland put up a brave fight. Oh well. I still think we can give them a great game next week and from there we can see a better picture of the title race.

Chelsea didn't look too invincible today, which might help in next week's match. Their only goal was a result of poor defending, and 10 minutes into the second half they gave up on the idea of putting the game to bed.

Thanks Cheese. And against all these odds, I think the lads deserve great credit for keeping their fighting spirit. I would have struggled if I were there you know. I think this team really means business. If not today, next year will be big - er, don't want to sound like our dear neighbours but you get the idea... :)

I usually don't post here because of the blame culture but it is safe to say we have been crap, and i really really hate eboue. That guy should not play for arsenal. No arsenal fan i know likes him. Not missed a home game this year and for the first time since i have been seeing arsenal i feel it has all been a waste. Rant over Well now i have to get chelsea tickets ( man i feel like a junkie)

Yeah Hazza, what a dream it's been. I really didn't expect this dream to come so soon. And Cheese like your optimism - which makes me look less silly/alone to keep believing despite everything hehee. And btw, can you guys tell me precisely what the rule of 'dangerous play' was? I'm not 100% sure, even though Gael's head was bleeding and all, if Mido's challenge warranted a straight red. Thanks.

Thank God Gael's knock isn't serious (didn't look bad when it happened but the way he got stretchered off was a bit worrying): http://sport.setanta.com/en/Sport/News/Football/2008/03/15/Prem-Wenger-Toure-on-Boro-game/

not to harp on about the ref cos we shouldve played better- especially hleb, been disappointing in the league the last few games.... but what got to me after all the crap ass decisions during the game, when clichy gets a kick to the head, that he only sent mido off after he saw clichy lying on the ground with blood *****ing out of him. what a ***** ref, absolute *****

rooneyisgod, I bet you weren't thinking that for the best portion of your match against Derby today.
And I'm guessing that you said the same thing the last two times Arsenal slipped and you managed to go to the top, for a week or two. With 8/ 9 matches left, Big 4 matches still to be played, and goal difference dictating who stands at the top of the table, the season is far from over.

Apart from the start of the season, we've stayed at the top except 2 spells (one for 1 round, the other one for 2 rounds). With big games coming thick and fast, it is indeed hard to tell. Tough on our part, part of which our own making, part bad luck, but it's still in our hands, starting from Chelsea.

Yes we do, strangely at San Siro more than at home, don't know why. Today we know - we were robbed, but still should have put some chances away to not rely on those useless refs. Glad you're confident, cos I seem to remember what happened last time you took the lead. We're still confident too. So we'll see and I don't have to go to your site to gloat to see. Enjoy the lead now.

I was at the game and it was an awful performance. I thought after Wigan and having had a week off and being at home that we would get the win. I'm afraid I don't think we're good enough this season and the players aren't looking fresh enough at the most important part of the season. I worry that even Liverpool can overtake us at this rate. Eboue just doesn't bring enough to this side IMO. We look a young outfit without enough experience and nous that is good enough to finish in the top 4, not win it. What a shame, after all the season had promised. It will all go back to that Clichy mistake against Birmingham...

I don't think it's a question of priorities. If you say CC and FAC, fair enough, we really didn't care that much. We could not compete on 4 fronts and we had to focus on PL and CL. But Wenger arguably sent out his best possible players in league games, injuries and suspensions aside. Today's a case of lacking cutting edge (whether that's fatigue or lack of creativity or needing some time to get back into the game after some time out in the case of RvP, Kolo and Theo, or whatever else, I still don't know for sure) and incompetent refereeing. That cutting edge has been lacking since Birmingham.

I am a disheartened Gooner at the moment and if I feel like this, I am sure Wenger feels twice as bad. We just look crap. I all honesty, I am not sure what has changed but the boys up front are not showing the commitment that Toure, Cesc, Ade looks like Th did when things werent going well. Whine Whine Whine. What I see as a fan is that the team spirit is not there. The huddles together, the pat on the back if something went wrong. Now the team are telling each other off, whining about where the ball should be played. Something has happened within the makeup of this team and I dont know what it is. If we dont win at the bridge next week, personally I believe we will finish 3rd, which I would have taken at the start of the season when everyone was playing chicken little and the sky was falling in. The season took of to a flier and I beleived and I still do however I think we missed several opportunities. One, I felt we needed another striker in the Jan sales, 2 - I would have told Flamani to sign by Jan or not sold Diarra and played Diarra instaed of the Flamster. The Flamster has been a revelation this season, but in all honesty he is not a Cesc so if you believe the papers, if he wants the same money, get real. Sign or move out and Thanks for all your efforts, you dont complain and put yourself about. Walcott needs to play as does Nic. I cant put my finger onthis and I am just frustrated. The worrying thing is I saw the Liverpool game and I am telling you, if we dont fix this soon, Torres is going to tear us apart. He looks fantastic at the moment. Come on Arsenal, SORT IT OUT>

I'm really disheartned at this draw, Ade's goal should've been given. It's like the ref wanted us to lose points and let ManUre get the lead. I only hope we could do really pick it up from here onwards. A CL draw against Liverpool isn't really too hard but if we win odds are we're against Chelsea, which is not easy at all.

Themadafrican, you're probably still in the heat of the moment though it's been 10 hours since the game ended. Right, opportunities missed. But calm down and look: (1) How you felt we should have signed a striker in Jan while Theo and Bendtner should play more, I don't know how to reconcile that. Theo's been patiently playing as a winger, where he's improving. Unless we put in like 3-4 strikers in a game, I don't know we could have done both. (2) In which part did you see bad team spirit today? I thought apart from Birmingham it's been ok. At the start of the season it was just fantastic. But things have been tough on the guys. Whether team spirit breeds win, or wins breed team spirit, I think it's the chicken and the egg. But given the circumstances, the guys didn't keep 'whining' and 'tell each other off' did they? Or did I miss something (I watched it online, which was as dodgy as the ref today)? Correct me if I'm wrong. (3) You're right, the Chelsea game is vital now, so are all the remaining games. But Chelsea aren't firing on all cylinders either, nor are ManU. (4) On Liverpool, and actually all the other strong teams who'll play the title contenders and hence affect the title race, any team could get injuries or suspensions so you just never know. BTW, Belletti, Carragher, Evra, Gallas, Lampard, Ronaldo, Vidic are on 4 yellow cards now. Arbeloa, Ballack, Cashley, Joe Cole, Drogba, Eboue, Gerrard, Hleb, Mikel, Torres, Kolo on 3. Cesc on 8. (Got these figures on premierleague.com, the numbers might not be updated with today’s happenings, e.g. Eboue picked up a yellow card today.) So it’s not beyond the realm of possibilities that some of the key players have to sit out some key games. I'm not saying we still have a great chance. But we're out of it yet. Just so we see a bit more possibilities apart from the doom and gloom.

(5) Torres has been on fire, true. But you can also see it's mainly the backbone of Torres-Gerrard-Carragher at work for them. If we can stifle Torres (20/55 goals) and Gerrard (10/55 goals), we're cutting 55% of their source of goals already. ManU: Ronald scored 22/59 goals, Tevez 11/59. That's a great 56% of their league goals; adding Rooney's 8/59 means a staggering 69%. For us, Ade 19/58, Cesc 7/58, i.e. 45%. It's pretty obvious we rely on team play while they rely on individual brilliance. If we could deal with the individual brilliance all-round vs Milan, we should be able to tackle 2-3 key players in their teams. (6) On Mathieu, I can't even bring myself to argue with you as I think it's a no-brainer. You said it yourself: "if you believe the papers". Calm down, take a deep breath, get some music, read a book, come back for the roller-coaster ride again next Sat. But keep the faith. :)

Wow..Lou.. nice stats.. for the optimist.. but the fact remains that we've blown 8 points.. the fact remains that Clichy's terrible mistake at Birmigham could well have damaged something within the team. That said, we always rouse ourselves for the big ones.. so beating Chelsea isnt as big an impossibility as ppl are making it out to be! The EPL has seen stranger things and we could very well end up being champions at the end of the season.. if we win 6-8 games.. which is not totally impossible.. I dont expect Utd to win all of their remaining games.. so for now.. all is not lost.. watch this space..

Gutted with the result. The ref got the offside decision horribly wrong. Despite that, there was something missing in our game today, cant quite put my finger on it. 4 draws in a row, and I'm afraid we've blown it. We need to win all our games against the rest of the top 4 to stand a chance. Its still possible, but its looking less likely with every game.

guys dun react to all these whores, they are just hear to wind us up and nothing more. time to let our team do the talking on the pitch now. We are the Arsenal, we never do things the easy way, our destiny is still in our hands. we had a similar blip in December before we kickstarted our season again. and i believe the team will do it again and end that unbeaten record the russians have..

I feel even worse this morning having slept on it. We just seem to have gone back to our bad old ways from last season of not having a ruthless edge and putting teams away. We were better at that at the beginning of the season, which gave us good results, but that has somehow led us back to wanting to play it beautifully for beautifully's sake, if you know what I mean. Don't get me wrong, I love the way we play and the Club's philosophy, but I also believe that this philosophy costs us. Remember the chances we had against B'ham to get the 3rd goal? Ade not passing to Bendtner? Yes, this team will definitely win something one day because growing together brings somethign special. I don't think it will be this season though - and not as long as we don't instill that ruthlessness in our collective heads to get a one or two goal lead and then start the beautiful game.

We were poor today, i think the problem lies in the fact the RVP and Ade can't seem to gell together, also helb plays better in the middle with a 5 midfield formation, we do miss rosicky also. BUT ! big games to come, a big weekend to come, lots more games and i think there will be more twists and turns yet, we do up our game against the major teams in the league, and as for mr 5-1 coming and taunting us, you have won an effin tin pot cup for the first time in 9 years and couldn't beat a european team of champions loeague rejects, you have no idea what its liek to challenge for a league title, prob was never born 46 years ago, you prob don't even go and follow your team , your just an armchair internet nerd... when you are top 4, IF you ever get there, and you have a chance of league titles, more trophies, consistantly playing in the premier of european cup competitions, then maybe you can come here and gloat, but what have spurs really got to gloat about huh ? NOTHING, when Berbatov effs off in the summer, we will laugh, and you will be no where.

The edge that United have is that they can score goals through team play, they can grind out results through sheer bloody-minded determination, and they have individuals like Ronaldo that can make something happen out of nothing - and, more importantly, score. We used to have that with Henry, Pires and Bergkamp, but Hleb, Rosicky and Cesc aren't going to be as prolific. I guess you could say we've been unlucky with van Persie and Eduardo, but still think we should sign a goalscoring attacking midfielder.

I just think we need to move on and concentrate on Chelsea. I really believe we can win this, it's Milan/Real Madrid/United last year all over again. Backs to the wall, an unbeaten record just waiting to be smashed, I have no doubt the boys will put in another sterling performance and the look on Cashley's face when Hleb skips round him to put it on a plate for Gallas (who has run the length of the pitch) to knock in, will be priceless. Ok, imagination getting the better of me, but it could happen...

Now now PG, nothing wrong in being an armchair fan is there although I do agree with you that 5-1 is a silly ****. On your other points, totally agree with you about Hleb. He's played horribly for sometime (Champ League is an exception). We need ROcky/Diaby. RvP is still rusty and his one touch passes seem to be going to the opposition rather than our players. Adebayor needs to regain that form. I just get the feeling he's burning out. As for Bendner and Walcott. they don't bring anything new except that raw energy. I get that they're still young but right now, they aren't doing much. All we can do is hope for a win at the bridge as nothing short of 3 points will do in my opinion. Hopefully pool can do something to stop the ManCs. I still get the feeling this race is far from over.

we could possible afford a draw at the bridge,what we have to do is win at OT,and win all our remaining games,but if we do beat the chavs i would say our chances would revert back to 50%,as it was before,so we will have to do what we have always done to win the league,and that is take all the points off the mancs.

united4life, this might be a point lost on a Surrey chap likeyou, but the person who provides the match reports on here (i.e.me) actually GOES to the games, and I know you probably haven't been to a football stadium before, but laptops aren't condusive to the match day experience.

I don't know where these claims come from, I haven't seen much of that on here. You're possibly confusing the opinions of your fellow Surrey schoolmates with this forum. The fact that it didn't even cross your mind that the person providing the reports actually goes to the games says it all. Where does your Chelsea shirt stay nowadays? Still in your drawer or did you completely disown it last May?

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